The wealth chant pushes countless dreamers to gamble their money away, overlooking legal concerns or investment safety. The major crypto scams discussed so far show how prevalent such incidents are and how they rob the consumer investment markets of billions of dollars. The absence of a pan-India watchdog/regulatory body scrutinising these digital assets and flashing the early warning lights also makes the country a hotbed of crypto scams.
Like Bitconnect, the company had a lock-in period (99 days for Regal Coin), and a bot determined the interest rate on investments. As the MLM scheme flourished and more people came on board, it became increasingly difficult to pay every investor the promised 10% in bitcoin. Consequently, people started complaining about it on social media and other platforms. Other accused individuals include Dhaval Mavani and Suresh Gorasiya. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized land worth INR 9 Cr linked to Darji in October 2021. Bitconnect, led by Satish Kumbhani and Divyesh Kumar Dhansukhlal Darji, is among the world’s biggest cryptocurrency scams.
- Add to that botched-up investigation in many cases, primarily due to these scams’ opaque and highly technical nature.
- This is when we have taken the lower amount into the account, otherwise Bitconnect alone by some could cross INR 80,000 Cr.
- It also displayed the past three days’ returns on their investments and other relevant data.
- There was no customer support or other details apart from a lone email ID email protected.
- He had allegedly run two more copycat scams known as Dekado Coin and Regal Coin scams.
- In April 2018, Darji and his team launched another website called Dkdpower2all.io, and Saxena, Darji’s partner, promised that the Dekado.io investors would get their crypto back.
- Not even a mammoth scam like GainBitcoin that saw the filing of more than 33 FIRs at home and many overseas complaints from the US, the UK and Thailand.
Indians have fallen prey to dozens of crypto scams like Bitconnect, Morris Coin, Ether Trade Asia and more. For instance, if we take the below 12 crypto scams into account, the total amount that people lost in these scams is over INR 72,000 Cr. This is when we have taken the lower amount into the account, otherwise Bitconnect alone by some could cross INR 80,000 Cr. However, the data mentioned in our stories has been taken from chargesheets, and the corresponding investigatve agencies’ estimations. Interestingly, while many investors including state officials benefited from the Bitconnect scam, few filed complaints.
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According to the Surat CID team, which has been investigating the case in India, it is worth INR 41,000 Cr, out of which Darji got a 10% cut or INR 4,100 Cr. He had allegedly run two more copycat scams known as Dekado Coin and Regal Coin scams. Dokdo Token’s current circulating supply is 25.00M DKD out of max supply of 50.00M DKD. In terms of market cap, Dokdo Token is currently ranked #503 in the Binance Smart Chain sector. There are currently 0 Dekado coins circulating out of a max supply of 0. The scheme in the US was valued at $2.4 billion, while the India operations are estimated to be worth INR 41,000 Cr, with Darji receiving a 10% cut.
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This resident of the Adajan area in Surat is currently facing a third case in relation to cryptocurrency scams. According to Surat CID, in charge of the probe, Darji asked each investor to buy a Regalcoin at $2 and get $100 on each token in a short span. He also promised that the Regalcoin would earn better returns than the bitcoin, the poster boy of the crypto industry. Similar to Amit Bhardwaj’s MCAP tokens, Bitconnect came out with BitConnect Coins (BCC) and marketed it as an investment option for traders. In this case, investors were supposed to earn daily interest of 1% while their RoI would double in 100 days.
The scam included additional fraudulent projects like Dekado Coin and Regal Coin. Darji is reportedly on the run, after being released on bail a month ago. You can read more about his part in the grande BitConnect scam here.
Crypto Scams & INR 72,000 Cr+ Lost: Why India’s Probes Into Biggest Crypto Scams Have Failed
The chargesheet filed by the Pune Police stated that Amit and his brother Vivek had set up Variabletech in Singapore in 2014. This firm launched a crypto exchange called BitEx and later came out with the GainBitcoin MLM scheme that offered bitcoin mining contracts. Under these contracts, investors were promised a 10% monthly return on every investment for 18 months, and the payout would be done in bitcoin. In the case of crypto scams, they are often rug-pulled into buying some sketchy digital tokens or other, often known as ‘shit coins’ due to their dubious origins. Yet, the victims rarely hesitate to take the plunge as these ‘promo’ sessions unveil the immense potential of the Ponzi schemes – huge incomes and lavish lifestyles.
It also displayed the past three days’ returns on their investments and other relevant data. Other accused in the case are Satish Kumbhani, Dhaval Mavani and Suresh Gorasiya. In October, 2021, the ED attached 16.5 hectares of land worth INR 9 Cr belonging to Divyesh Darji. The properties were bought in the name of his family members, alleged ED. Lately, crypto has become all the rage as a get-rich-soon investment solution, and scammers find it convenient to target the uninitiated with a variety of crypto Ponzi schemes. In a conversation with GainBitcoin founder Amit Bhardwaj (now deceased), some investors asked whether their money was safe.
It was a more aggressive Ponzi scheme than what Bhardwaj sold under GainBitcoin. He changed the contract terms without notifying his investors and started paying them in pre-mined tokens called MCAP. These coins had negligible value and were not listed anywhere except on C-Cex, the crypto exchange owned by Bhardwaj.
He had also pledged referral bonuses would be paid every 11 days to those who would recruit more people to download the app. Savalia allegedly gave his investment amount to Dimki, Darji’s daughter. Other than his daughter, another mentioned name in the scandal was Ramdayal Purohit, who reportedly helped Darji to download a Regal dekado coin price coin app in Saliva’s phone as well as helped him with the registration process.
- In this case, investors were supposed to earn daily interest of 1% while their RoI would double in 100 days.
- They got away after being granted bail,” said a Mumbai Police official earlier investigating one of the cases.
- The legal proceedings began in the US in February 2022, with Kumbhani indicted for operating a global crypto Ponzi scheme, including charges of wire fraud, price manipulation, and money laundering.
- Authorities believe they made away with more than Rs 45 lakh ($65 thousand).
- He changed the contract terms without notifying his investors and started paying them in pre-mined tokens called MCAP.
Both Darji and Satish Kumbhani (the Bitconnect founder), the key accused in this case, have been absconding ever since. As a result, even the US Court has not been able to serve the order to Kumbhani. Wary of the latest developments, fewer people are now visiting the scam websites/apps promising too much, too soon. The number of Indian visitors dipped drastically from 17.8 Mn in 2020 to 9.6 Mn in 2021, according to a Chainalysis report. The suspect websites most visited by Indian users in the past year included Coinpayu.com, adBTC.top, HackerTyper.net, Dualmine.com and Coingain.app.